AI

The Algorithm Rules

Who should you listen to: the traffic cop or your boss? 

Drivers for Ele.me and Meituan Dianping (China’s versions of DoorDash and UberEats) grapple with that question regularly. Several have said their manager—an app, not a human—directs them to speed or drive against traffic to meet delivery goals.

That’s an extreme outcome of algorithmic management, a practice Uber pioneered to efficiently manage its distributed driver workforce. It’s now a pillar of the global gig economy—and some traditional employers, like retailers, are embracing the tactic, too.

Under the algorithmic hood

What goes in: worker data (consumer reviews; a car’s maintenance history) and broad contextual data (weather; seasonal patterns). 

What comes out: algorithmically generated decisions, often in the form of app-based nudges. AI techniques like machine learning help generate these prompts, which:

• Incentivize (e.g., complete a few more rides to reach a bonus)
• Assign/delegate (shifts could be changed due to projected spikes in foot traffic)
• Penalize (worker ratings may be downgraded if they reject assignments)

Black-box bosses

It’s often unclear to algorithmically managed workers why an important performance rating changes, or why a certain timetable is set. That unpredictability can destabilize their schedules and finances. 

Pushback: Last week, shoppers for Target-owned delivery service Shipt in the U.S. announced protests against a new “black-box algorithm pay structure,” which they say 1) slashes pay and 2) offers “zero transparency.” Shipt argues the change will make shoppers’ pay more accurate. 

• “Our main goal is a reversion back to the original, clear, and transparent commission-based pay model,” Willy Solis, a Shipt shopper in Dallas and lead organizer at Gig Workers Collective, told us. 
• Under the old model, Shipt shoppers could easily verify the accuracy of their paychecks. 

And in early September, drivers for ridesharing company Ola took the company to court in the Netherlands to get transparency into its “fraud probability score,” which can impact driver pay. 

Companies argue against algorithmic transparency on the basis that these systems are trade secrets. Data & Society researcher Alexandra Mateescu told us there’s another incentive at play too: maintaining asymmetry. According to her, companies may view transparency as unappealing because typically, “the way algorithmic control works is because workers don’t know how it’s functioning.” 

Big picture: Not every employee who interacts with an algorithm views that computational sequence as their boss. But those who do answer to algorithms are often frustrated by a combination of surveillance, opaqueness, and algorithmic indifference.

AR

Super Maps

Since Google Maps has more than 1 billion users and directions for most of the navigable world, its newer and infrequently used features can feel like easter eggs. 

Exhibit A:

Live View, an AR walking tool that provides direction arrows and distance markers. Google is expanding Live View to include information about landmarks in 24 prominent global cities. The company also says it’s beefed up Live View’s localization and pin placement with machine learning and its topographical view of the world.

More updates: Users can pull up Live View for the walking portions of their multimodal trip, like a short hop from the bus station to the subway. And Google Maps recently added an AR social location-sharing feature for Pixel users to see how lost their friends are on the way to a meet-up. The feature will roll out to Android and iOS “soon.” 

Zoom out: I think Google Maps could become a super-app for mobility and travel. But that could be delayed, since we’re sticking closer to our zip codes during the pandemic.

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AI

State of the Smart City

As of now, many smart cities skew more toward idea than action—and those ideas cover a lot of tech buzzwords.

Case in point: Terminus Group recently unveiled plans for an “AI City” called Cloud Valley in Chongqing, China. Planned amenities include carbon-neutral living, complete 5G infrastructure, and a robot-friendly park.

Behind the hype 

Due to poor connectivity, red tape, and lack of skills/funding, smart city progress is “proving harder than imagined,” per a recent World Economic Forum summit. 

Covid-19 isn’t helping. The number of smart city projects in the U.S. is projected to drop 7% in 2021, before rebounding the following year.

What would help: A recent survey found that 80% of industry leaders would be more likely to invest in a smart city venture if it were based on existing tech infrastructure. 

Tech giants hear that loud and clear. Amazon is gearing up to officially launch Sidewalk, its smart neighborhood network that doesn’t require any new hardware. 

• The goal: expand connectivity beyond home Wi-Fi, using wireless low-energy Bluetooth and 900MHz radio signals. It’ll help keep IoT devices (think: outdoor lights) connected.

BITS & BYTES

Stat: 66% of IT leads at large companies believe AI projects matter more than they’d thought pre-pandemic, according to a recent report. And they’re willing to bet on that: 50% plan to increase AI spending in response to Covid-19. 

Quote: “Streaming algorithms are strong but still can't beat a friend's recommendation.”—Dan Runcie, author of the Trapital newsletter. 

Read: New York Magazine questions whether Palantir’s services are “smoke and mirrors.”

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WHAT ELSE IS BREWING

• Tesla delivered 139,300 vehicles in Q3, a record that slightly edged out Wall Street’s expectations. 
• Google is ending support for its Daydream VR service. 
• Uber’s freight arm raised a $500 million Series A, valuing it at $3.3 billion.
• A European safety agency gave “very good” grades to Audi, BMW, and Mercedes driver-assist systems. And, because you’re wondering, it gave Tesla’s Autopilot a “moderate” mark. 
• Twitter is tweaking its automated image cropping feature.
• Sony has applied for a U.S. license to sell components to Huawei, Nikkei reports.
• South Korea is already getting ready for 6G.

WHAT'S BREWING THIS WEEK

Monday: VOICE Summit starts; Fast Company Innovation Festival and Nvidia GTC GPU Technology Conference run through Friday. 

Tuesday: TechCrunch’s TC Sessions: Mobility and LA Blockchain Summit run through Wednesday; Arm DevSummit runs through Thursday. 

Wednesday: Slack Frontiers runs through Friday; VP debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris.

Thursday: Samsung Q3 pre-earnings guidance. 

Friday: Nobel Peace Prize announcement.

TECH THINGAMABOBS

For Halloween prep: Naturally, Home Depot is selling a 12-foot-tall skeleton. Prospective buyers who are on the fence can download the Home Depot app and see what the skeleton looks like at their house in AR. 

For Pictionary practice: Think you’re a master doodler? Put that to the test, literally, by seeing how quickly a neural network can guess what you’re drawing. Your artwork could be immortalized in the “world’s largest doodling data set.” Try it here.

ICYMI

Catch up on the top Emerging Tech Brew stories from the past few editions: 

• Q3 recap: Tech tie-ups, tensions, and more 
• Google-Fitbit deal on track for EU approval
• Machine learning’s impact on HR during Covid-19